New golf rule anchored in controversy

Not since Casey Martin wanted to ride a cart has the golf world dealt with something that invoked the phrase “spirit of the game.”

With Martin, it was a matter of how the game is played and whether walking was indeed an integral part of the overall competition at the highest levels. This time, it's way more specific, dealing with the narrowest of areas: How the golf club is actually used.Specifically, the putter, and whether a putting stroke is indeed a stroke if you include a fulcrum. Even if you're in favor of anything that makes the game easier, you have to appreciate the common sense and/or legal angling of golf's rulers. The rules, officially changing in 2016, won't ban long putters — such a move might invite long and expensive battles with the equipment manufacturers who, in so many ways, are the commercial backbone of the game.

No, you can have your belly putter or even the longer broomstick putter. But you will no longer be allowed to anchor it against your body — a practice that has saved, prolonged and enhanced professional careers, while making the game more enjoyable to countless amateurs.

Sad fact: Through no fault of their own, many golfers — especially in middle-age and beyond — reach a point where the nerves in their wrists and hands no longer speak the same language as their brains, and when that happens, three-foot putts begin looking like landmines. Or rattlesnakes in full rattle.Just like it's easier to knot a hook or thread a needle if you rest your elbows or forearms on a table, it's easier to make a smooth putting stroke if you anchor the butt of the grip into your gut or against your sternum. Over the past 30 years, great tee-to-green golfers like Orville Moody and Bernhard Langer entered new tax stratospheres when they went to long putters and tamed the rattlers. Many scoffed, but generally speaking, no one saw big harm in it. Then younger players started using them . . . then more and more younger players . . . and recently some of those players began winning the major championships with anchored putting strokes. Sure, it should've been addressed 20-plus years ago, before it became rather common to walk onto a putting green before a tournament and see nearly a quarter of the players anchoring their strokes. But it festered, then blew up, and now the pending ban has everyone up in arms. Even many of those who favor the ban — count me among them — think long putters should still be allowed outside of the pro game and national amateur championships, but the U.S. Golf Association and its European counterpart — the Royal and Ancient — are singing “anchors aweigh” for everyone.Too bad. The lords of golf should be doing their part to make the game more enjoyable for the mid- and high-handicap players who keep the game financially afloat at the local levels. And trust me, nothing turns you against golf — and, naturally, against the thought of dropping green fees on a pro shop counter — like a 92 that would've been an 82 if you only had the ability to putt it in the river from a dock.

On the putting green before the first round of the Riviera Open on Saturday morning, a few players of varying degrees of experience and career success were asked their opinion on the ban.

Jim Chancey, 60, is a former PGA Tour player and longtime mini-tour regular, and rather lucky. His putting stroke went haywire in his 40s, but against all laws of golf reason, it came back.

“I used a belly putter for a long time, eight or 10 years, then I just got to where I could putt without it,” he said. “I know a lot of guys who have struggled, guys who really need it. It's a touchy situation.”Across the way, 55-year-old Fulton Allem — a three-time PGA Tour winner in the '90s — finished some pre-round work with his traditional putter and suggested the game's rulers waited way too long to pull up the anchors.“I always thought it was an infringement on the rules to start with it,” said the South Africa native who now lives in Lake Mary. “The way I interpret the setup rule, you cannot use anything that can aid you in your set-up. By anchoring a club against your body, that aids you in your setup. I always thought it was illegal to start. I'm so glad that they've outlawed it. In my opinion, what they should've done is just say, ‘Look, the shortest club in your bag has to be the putter.' ”

Finally, there was Matt Every, never loud yet never shy with his opinion. Like many streaky putters, he's gone through a variety of putters over the years, looking for “one that works,” as they say. He even tried a belly putter briefly, suggesting he was willing to “cheat” as long as it's legal. He quickly went back to the standard length, and this past season won nearly $2 million on the PGA Tour.“I'm totally fine with the ruling,” Every said, surprising no one. “My big thing with the ruling is, if you're saying it's wrong, it should be wrong tomorrow. A three-year grace period is a long time if you ask me.”And don't even bring up the popular argument — among long-putter enthusiasts and apologists — that long putters must not be such a huge advantage since there are so few anchoring golfers in the upper rungs of the Tour's putting stats.“I think it helps bad putters more than it helps good putters,” Every said. “If you're a good putter, why would you switch to a belly putter? That's why there are no good belly-putters up top (of the stats); they're all coming from the back to the middle of the pack.”Get your “Daily Willie” among the blogs at News-Journalonline.com